Thursday, April 29, 2010

This postcard shows Majestic Prince in the winner's circle at the 1969 Kentucky Derby. The jockey was Bill Hartack. Majestic Prince also won the Preakness in 1969. He raced in the Belmont despite a leg problem, but failed to win the third race of the Triple Crown. That was his last race.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

First I have a Tupperware Party invitation postcard--both front and back of the same postcard are shown. This is from sometime in the 1960s. There is a page of Tupperware postcards at Tupper Diva, and a used postcard like this has a 1964 date. I really liked the old styles of Tupperware shown on the card much better than the newer types.

Next is a Betty Crocker's Party Book from 1960. The book includes parties for May Day and Mother's Day.

The May Day party has a basket theme. There are instructions for making two kinds of May baskets and also cupcake baskets.

The Mother's Day section has a menu that "Dad and the youngsters" can prepare and a Mother-and-Daughter tea party with recipes and a pink table setting.

Sunday, April 25, 2010

The Gold Buffet began with a buffet in Winterset, Iowa in 1958 and expanded to Kansas City in 1961. The North Kansas City Gold Buffet served customers from 1961 to 1994. For part of this time entertainment, including Las Vegas celebrities, was offered in a showroom that was added in 1975.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

April 22, 2010 is the 40th anniversary of Earth Day. Earth Day was founded April 22, 1970 in the United States. Earth Day began as an environmental protest because environmental problems were not being addressed.

This postcard has a quote from the "Menton Statement," a message that was composed in May, 1970 by scientists meeting in Menton, France. The scientists identified global problems threatening human survival and urged international efforts to find solutions to the problems of pollution, hunger, overpopulation, and war.

My two fairy tale children's puzzles were bought at a garage sale. The first one is marked Japan and illustrates the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. The back of this puzzle is a "Crayon Board."

Sunday, April 18, 2010

This postcard celebrates the 1954 centennial of the Hubbell House in Mantorville, Minnesota. The original Hubbell House was constructed five years before Minnesota became a state in 1859. The three-story structure, which still exists, was built in 1856.

The Hubbell House entertained some famous guests in its early years. Among them were those whose signatures are shown on this card: Horace Greeley, Brother Bishop Whipple, Senator Ramsey, Henry Clay, Ole Bull, and W. W. Mayo.

Paul Pappas purchased the Hubbell House in 1946. Paul passed away in 1996, but the Pappas family is still involved with the Hubbell House.

Friday, April 16, 2010

This postcard is rather unusual. It is the only one I have seen with a map and a comic superimposed on a view. From the back of the card:

Scene showing Bird's-Eye View of Penzoil refinery and Oil Creek looking towards Rouseville near Oil City, Pa., a three hundred seventy-five mile tour through and from Pittsburgh, through the historic section where oil was first discovered, passing over one of the most scenic highways in the state--Pennfield Highway, or Route 153.

In the last half of the 19th century, western Pennsylvania was dominant in oil production. The area had already been known for oil seeping out of the ground and being found accidentally when drilling water wells. The first commercial oil well was drilled in 1859 in Titusville, north of Pittsburgh . Nearly half of the world's oil production came from Pennsylvania until the 1901 oil boom in Texas.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

April is National Poetry Month so I am showing a poetry book my mother had as a child. "Christmas 1919" is written inside the cover. The book is Riley Child Rhymes With Hoosier Pictures.

James Whitcomb Riley was a famous Hoosier poet, popular in the early years of the twentieth century. He is known as the Hoosier poet because he was from Indiana and he used a Hoosier dialect in many of his poems. A number of postcards included some of his verse. The postcard shown here includes part of the poem The Raggedy Man, one of Riley's best-loved poems. This poem was originally published in a 1890 issue of Century Magazine. The complete poem was included in the Riley Child Rhymes book.

Sunday, April 11, 2010

This postcard is probably from sometime during the 1945-1951 period. The card has a one cent stampbox (postage increased to two cents in 1952). A 1912 History of Monroe County, Wisconsin called the Sherman House "today a modern little hotel in every particular." A new modern version of the Sherman House and a new VA hospital were in the planning stages in 1945 (Boom Times Face Tomah--VA Hospital Under Way). The Sherman House apparently closed a long time ago.

Thursday, April 8, 2010

The cherry trees in Washington, D.C. were a friendship gift from Japan. Japan gave the city of Washington 3,000 cherry trees in 1912. The U.S. reciprocated with a gift of flowering dogwood trees given to Japan in 1915. Additional cherry trees were given to the U.S. in 1965.

The cherry trees grow in several locations: around the Tidal Basin in West Potomac Park, in East Potomac Park (Hains Point), and on the Washington Monument grounds. The cherry trees flower in the spring and are a popular tourist attraction. This year the blooming period was March 27 - April 5. The 2010 dates of the annual National Cherry Blossom Festival are March 27 - April 11.

This postcard shows the cherry trees in bloom. A Japanese lantern used in cherry blossom ceremonies is in the foreground, and the Washington Monument is in the background. Similar cartoon "tourists" also appeared on postcard views from other areas of the United States.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

This postcard advertises Sears sinks and cabinets. That is a Coldspot refrigerator in the picture, probably the 1946 model. Below is the description from the back of the postcard. The cabinets appear to be steel, a type that was popular for postwar kitchens.

This week I am showing my vintage red kitchen thingies. I just bought the Bromwell's Measuring Sifter at a thrift store yesterday. I already had two vintage sifters, and I can't even remember the last time I used one. My other sifters have the type of handle that you squeeze to sift. This one has a red crank mechanism like the sifter my mother had. The Hazel Atlas nut grinder was bought at a thrift store more than thirty years ago and is just like the one my mother had. I used to use the grinder before they started selling chopped nuts for less than whole ones.

The other items I don't use, though I do keep them with my other kitchen utensils in case I need them. The Ekco tomato slicer on top is something I bought long ago, but I didn't even know what it was until I saw one on a blog.

Sunday, April 4, 2010

The Warehouse Restaurant was created in the late 1960s by Burt Hixson, a documentary photographer. The interior is a recreation of a warehouse with items from old warehouses such as crates, barrels, sacks, and nets. The restaurant is still there, but Hixson went on to develop the Villa Verano resort on an estate in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

Burt Hixson's niche in the history of restaurantdom is assured, both from his trend-setting establishment of The Warehouse themer in Los Angeles's Marina del Rey (and three other spinoffs) and from his victory in a 1982 federal, precedent-setting lawsuit to protect the nautical-wharf "trade dress" of his $4 million-a-year flagship restaurant.

Hixson, 45, is now entertaining the idea of establishing a "corporate resort" in a large estate he bought in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. He said he may "retire" there when he concludes the active role he has played in his restaurants after 17 years. Known for his safari-plantation garb and savvy merchandising, Hixson described the pending move as "sort of getting out of the fast lane or mainstream."

Saturday, April 3, 2010

I wonder what's in that envelope--perhaps an invitation to an Easter party? When you were as young as these girls, you probably would have believed that the Easter bunny wore clothes and could paint Easter eggs! When you are older, you recognize this scene as fantasy, but it can still evoke happy childhood memories.

Thursday, April 1, 2010

The first postcard is a modern Easter postcard published by Hallmark. If you have ever studied art history, you will probably be familiar with the source of that image. The second postcard shows Sunday on La Grande Jatte, a painting in the Art Institute of Chicago that was painted by Seurat in 1884-1886. This painting is monumental in size, 207.6 cm × 308 cm (81.7 in × 121.25 in). It is considered very important in the history of art for both its style and subject matter.

To learn more about A Sunday on La Grande Jatte, watch this excellent video.